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sickle cell

As National Blood Week (19-25 June 2017) reaches its end, the U.K National Health Service is encouraging people to come forward and donate blood to help those who need it most, with an online strategy covering websites and social media such as Facebook, HEM News Agency exclusively reports.

The NHS Blood and Transplant division launched National Blood Week with a campaign to get more people visiting their local blood donation centre with a series of advertisements and even a hashtag #ImThere. The campaign was set up to celebrating new and existing blood donors making a difference and helping save people’s lives, according to the NHSBT website.

Blood donors are being encouraged to proudly announce they have donated via social media to help overcome the reluctance of other members of the public to donate and to solve shortages of certain blood groups, particularly those associated with ethnic minorities.

The NHSBT is particularly keen to get on board more donors of black African and Afro-Caribbean heritage, who are currently vastly underrepresented in the blood donation pool. An appeal was launched to increase the number of black British donors by 40,000, to help fight the effects of sickle cell anaemia among the African and Afro-Caribbean communities. The agency has received support from television presenter Scarlette Douglas, whose brother was a blood transfusion recipient. She spoke with sickle cell sufferer Aaron Thomas on the BBC One Show about the condition and the need for more donors from this community.

Donors are being encouraged to add frames to their Facebook profile photos and special ‘Twibbons’ to their Twitter pages. They can also take a selfie at the blood donation centre and use the #ImThere tag, to get their friends and family to join in and donate too.

NHSBT is also keen to reach out to more people with blood group O- as stocks of this blood type are running very low. The agency runs twenty three permanent centres and visits thousands of venues across England.

Abuja, NIGERIA

VIJAY SHAH via gist.ng

On the occasion of World Sickle Cell Awareness Day to be held this month and an event organised by the United Nations, a charity in Nigeria will pull out all the stops to get people understanding the condition, which often affects people of African origin and causes deformities in red blood cells.

According to online magazinegist.ng, the Sickle Cell Aid Foundation (SCAF) has organised a series of events on World Sickle Cell Awareness Day, which will happen on June 19th. SCAF will run a number of drives to encourage greater awareness, offer practical solutions for dealing with the condition and encourage more support for research into Sickle Cell. The events will take place in five states in Nigeria. These are Abuja, Lagos, Delta, Niger and Kaduna. The SCAF will also push forward social media campaigns to bring awareness all over Nigeria and the world.

Live events SCAF will plan include a set of conferences on sickle cell mapping and management of the disorder in tandem with the United States Embassy, press conferences to support the SCAF project, visits to hospitals, a nutrition forum in collaboration with the Zankli Hospital, free genotype testing and free medicines to be given out to people suffering from sickle cell disorder.

(c) SCAF via gist.ng

The SCAF’s social media campaign, dubbed #OneWord, encourages people to tweet or Facebook post their understanding of what sickle cell is and to encourage their friends to join in to help get more people discussing the condition, which affects 150,000 children in Nigeria per year. It is believed that 40 million Nigerians carry the gene that causes sickle cell, while not affected by it themselves, according to the Sickle Cell Foundation.

Sickle cell disorder, also known in the West as sickle cell disease is a genetically inherited condition and a form of anaemia where the red blood cells are deformed and curved, in the manner of a sickle. This causes the cells’ oxygen carrying capacity to be impaired. These blood cells do not last as long as healthy blood cells and can get stuck in blood vessels, raising the risk of stroke. The condition cannot be cured, but special drugs are available to manage the condition.

Hospital VisitationVisiting Sickle Cell Warriors and their care givers – Packs of required drugs will be given to Sickle Cell Warriors free of chargeDate: Friday, June 17th 2016Time: 10AMVenue: Asokoro General Hospital

Conference on Sickle Cell DiseaseIn Partnership with the United States Embassy – Indigenous Mapping on Sickle Cell Disorder for Targeted Advocacy, Policy Making and Practical Action.Date: Monday, June 20th 2016Time: 10AM – 1PMVenue: United States Embassy, Abuja